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Thursday, 18 November 2010

Christmas is coming?

My daughter was informed in a letter from Santa there are only 37 more sleeps until Christmas! Despite the fact that Christmas goods have been in the shops for months I've not really been switched on to Christmas until now as certain key factors are now coming into play.

Its not the fact that TV adverts have been in Christmas mode for sometime either and the catalogues are all plugging Christmas Specials. Maybe its the fact that Father Christmas is coming to turn our town lights on this weekend? He is going to be parading down from K Village with his reindeer to perform this act. The workmen were frantically trying to finish the wiring today! A great sign for me is that my Park Love2Shop vouchers were delivered this week so I can finally afford to go shopping after saving since last Christmas...

Children in Need to me is a sign of the impending festive season. I think its fantastic that we can all kick off Christmas by giving to those less fortunate than ourselves. My kids are really into it this year with bear ears from Greggs:

and my daughter has baked and decorated cakes for the school fund raiser:

This to me is far more important than the over commercialisation of what was once a religious celebration of the birth of Jesus. Our children are blasted with adverts for the must have toys (a good reason to stick with CBBC and Cbeebies!). As parents especially in these more prudent times its hard to manage their expectations. Mine have already been told that there is a strict budget this Christmas. There is still the list to Father Christmas which I've ensured wasn't too over the top. The nice letter my daughter got back from FC said that he couldn't fit everything on his sleigh!

From now until the end of term its a build up of excitement with school productions, choir, parties, Christmas fairs. I try not to let too much happen before December and the tree traditionally goes up on the 1st Saturday of the month. Its then a case of trying to keep children calm enough to get through the main event!

Last year I went down with mastoiditis on Christmas Day and was laid up for much of the celebrations. This year I'm hoping for a nice relaxed Christmas with close family after visiting other family and friends back south at the start of the holidays. Christmas is a time for families and friends to show each other how much they love it each other not by spending a fortune but by their actions.

What signs do you look for to think that Christmas is really coming? How do you manage your children's expectations?